Before I get to the main thrust of tonight’s article, I’m sorry, but I gotta get this off of my chest. Donald Trump digital trading cards?! Freakin’ really?! At $99 a pop?! Did you see those things? The look like a 12 year old’s wet dream after binge watching all 11 seasons of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
You’ll notice that SuperTrump is still a good enough grifter to not make stupid mistakes. Did you notice that there were 2 simple words missing from Trumpenstein’s blockbuster announcement today. Those 2 words were Limited Edition. Because these are digital trading card assaults the eyes, and can be reproduced endlessly, as long as the demand holds out. But it’s a Limited Edition that gives a thing value through its rarity. The fact that he’s selling them on a shady crypto currency site is the cherry on top of the scam. What a loser!
But now on to the Center Ring. From the day that The Cheeto Prophet bored the shit out of friends and supporters in the Mar-A-Lago ballroom, I have labeled it as a scam. He did it to open his campaign war chest, giving him access to millions of fresh sucker cash, as well as he hoped being an active presidential candidate would give him some air cover from the DOJ’s intensifying criminal investigations.
I wrote recently that if The Mango Messiah was serious, he’d be on the trail at least every 2 weeks, if not weekly, for 2 obvious reasons. The first is that it gives His Lowness the opportunity to body slam every potential challenger without them getting air time t respond. And 2nd, there’s nothing like a rally crowd to perk up campaign donations, as well as spending oodles on MAGA branded shit, al of which goes into Trump’s pockets.
An when you look at past history this fits like a glove. Because since the earliest days of his 2015 announcement, Trump has been the Zen Master of political campaign rally crowds. Trump was like the GOP version of Bernie Sanders, but with worse hair, and no coherent sentences. And even in Hair Twitler’s worst personal moments, there was no balm as soothing to his tattered ego as appearing on a stage in front of 20,000 screaming mental defectives, and whipping them into a 2 hour frenzy of racism and self pity. So why isn’t he doing it now, when he’s getting his ass kicked on so many different fronts?
Maybe here’s why. Maybe more and more of the GOP, and even some of his rabid base, are getting over Trump. They’re sick of losing, and when even FUX News starts branding Trump as a loser, it’s going to start to stick, at least for some people. And that’s not just me blowing smoke out my ass, there is empirical data that tends to support this view.
In a new Quinnipiac poll released today, Trump’s popularity is at a miserable 31%. This equals the lowest of his career, in the weeks following his initial campaign announcement in 2015. Another poll showed that 61% of GOP voters want the Trump agenda on the ballot in 2024, only without Trump himself on the ballot. And recent head-to-head polls almost universally show FL Governor Ron Pissantis leading The Orange Shitgibbon by double digits. Trump’s early announcement had no bounce whatsoever.
There’s the nub of it. Look, even a second rate campaign with third rate campaign management, like Trump’s has a cardinal rule. And that rule is that you never make a move without testing it. My guess is that Trump is desperate to get out on the road, and bask in the adoration. But I’m betting that the campaign is sending out friendly feelers to Trump friendly locations, proposing a Trump rally, and asking for attendance guesses, and they’re bombing. This is the kiss of death for a campaign. After all, remember when Trump insisted in going out on road trips during the Covid crisis, and the campaign spent more of ceiling-to-floor curtains to hide empty sections of the arena than the rally brought in. Trump was in a blind rage for days.
That’s the missing ingredient. All current polling shows Trump seriously on the decline. And if his campaign is paying attention to the polling, they know that setting up a large capacity venue for Trump right now would have them all on the street the morning after, looking for work. With his political funds, I can’t think of another reason why Diaper Donnie wouldn’t be out on a stage licking his nuts.
I can think of several reasons.
1) What you pointed out – Trump’s aides and maybe even Trump himself are afraid of even smallish venues being empty. And worse, Fox itself panning the camera around the room while he’s speaking to prove it!
2) We all know what a cheap bastard he is. And was even when he had plenty of other people’s (campaign donations) money to burn. Being Trump he stiffed vendors and city/county governments even though he had money to pay them. Now? My bet is that everyone is insisting on money upfront – hefty deposits wired into accounts to book an event, and the balance due a couple of days prior. That’s not just insulting to Trump and his ego, he probably can’t come up with the cash!
3) His lawyers, even the third-rate ones are threatening to walk out if he gets out there and shoots off his mouth. He’s in enough legal trouble as it is and if he “free forms” his “speeches” as he loves to do and which is what those who come to hear him want he digs the deep hole he’s in that much deeper. But Trump understands entertainment and TV and knows how badly he flopped sticking to a script in his (2024) announcement speech. The dude who made a career out of solid instincts for self-promotion suddenly doesn’t know WTF to do. And odd thing for him, and hell on his ego. (Best of all the longer this inaction goes on the worse it looks for him – and he knows it!)
4) I’d imagine he’s gotten more than one target letter, and he doesn’t know how close either state or a federal grand jury might be to indicting him. Maybe he’s afraid of “being served” with an arrest warrant while out campaigning. At least if he’s holed up at his place in FL his lawyers can negotiate his coming in.
Finally, I can’t help but think back on how he mocked Biden for running a responsible campaign during a pandemic – not holding big events. Trump gave running negative commentary about “Biden’s basement” but look who’s the one hiding out now?
WHOOT yes Sharing. PLUS DE SANTIS See This From PhilipBump piece on GOP changing its mind.
HELP NEED TO EDIT .. ?! Meant to only use graph. Please delete comment and I’ll repost.
Perhaps they hate the idea that NO ONE will rent them space unless it’s COD?
I think he deteriorating fast and he can’t control his bodily functions. He keep running his mouth but we won’t see in public until absolutely has to appear or he resigns.